Getaway in Ohio's Amish Country

Halfway between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio's sprawling Amish Country offers travelers divergent paths to sample the rural lifestyle. Most people follow tour buses to the museums, Main Street shops and reliable restaurants. Hungering for a slower, more authentic experience, we followed the buggies along Holmes County's backroads to the farms and shops of everyday Amish life.

Click through the next slides for a sampling of what you can see on a getaway to the world's largest Amish community. A detailed trip guide with suggestions on what to do, where to eat and where to stay begins on slide 9.

Plunk down $11 for a tour and buggy ride, and Verba Miller, a friend of the Yoder family, will take you through a farmhouse filled with authentic furniture and clothes. In each room, Verba explains the rituals: how Amish families practice their religion, how girls' clothes change as they become women, how families work and play together. Visitors stroll through the 1885-built red barn filled with animals before climbing aboard a buggy for a turn around the farmstead.

Blink and you'll miss the sign along County-77 for Baskets and Blooms, one of the small businesses -- quilt shops, greenhouses, candle stores, furniture shops and more - that dot county roads. Most are owned by families living without phones, electricity and cars.

Note that addresses can be problematic here; mailing addresses do not always correspond to an actual physical location. Your best bet? Call for directions (cell service is spotty), get a map from the Holmes County Tourism Bureau—and keep an eye out for road signs.

Coblentz Chocolate Company, Walnut Creek. The Coblentz family produces about 100 kinds of premium chocolates and other candies, including fudge made in copper kettles, caramels hand-wrapped in waxed paper and chocolate Amish buggies. (330) 893-2995; coblentzchocolates.com[40]

Guggisberg Cheese, 5060 State Route 557, Millersburg. Billed as the Home of the Original Baby Swiss, this shop is a great resource for snacking, with crackers, pretzels, mustards, sausages, bologna, jams, jellies and candies in addition to cheese. (330) 893-2500; guggisberg.com[41]

Carlisle Gifts, Walnut Creek. This gift shop mimics a Victorian house and sells upscale, mostly traditional and cottage-style home furnishings, as well as fun, flirty jewelry and accessories. (330) 893-2535; dhgroup.com[48]

Farmerstown Furniture Ltd., 3155 State Route 557, Baltic. Farmerstown Furniture sells pieces made from hardwoods such as oak, cherry and hickory. The shop also has an extensive hardware section of handles, knobs, hinges, pulls, spindles, legs and feet. (330) 897-0406

Boyd and Wurthmann Restaurant, 4819 E. Main St., Berlin. Since the 1930s, the restaurant has served old-fashioned American food: sirloin steak, liver and onions, chicken and noodles, and pies. (330) 893-3287

Cafe Breitenbach, 5934 Old State-39 NW, Dover. This girly spot at a family-owned winery is a fun place to try panini, salads and hearth-baked pizzas. (330) 343-3603; breitenbachwine.com[59]

Chalet in the Valley Restaurant, 5060 State-557, Millersburg. Near Charm, the house specialty is Swiss-Austrian food. (330) 893-2550; chaletinthevalley.com[60]

Miller's Bakery, 4280 Township-356, Millersburg. Off of State-557, this has some of the area's best baked goods. (330) 893-3002

Troyer's Genuine Trail Bologna Inc., 6552 State-515, Dundee. The Troyer family has been making bologna since 1912, combining beef with spices then smoking it over a hardwood fire. You can eat at the vintage lunch counter. (330) 893-2414; troyerstrail.com[62]